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Employers honoured as Best Christian Workplaces
Small loans create new opportunities in Jordan
Five Questions
Ethiopian Mennonite serves at UN
Ottawa seminar links faith and advocacy
Manitoba church on the move
Coming Soon
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Employers honoured as Best Christian Workplaces
Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, supervisory effectiveness, and teamwork are some criteria that evaluate a good workplace, whether Christian or secular.
The Best Christian Workplaces Institute works in conjunction with the Canadian Council of Christian Charities, using these criteria and more to help ministries get employee feedback. Each year, Best Christian Workplaces hands out awards for top performers, companies whose work environment innately reduces turnover and increases commitment.
The 2009 awards were the first to be measured against a constant benchmark and 2 Mennonite Brethren organizations, Waterloo (Ont.) MB Church and the Canadian Conference of MB Churches (CCMBC), were among the top seven honoured.
To participate in the survey, an organization must have more than 10 employees (to ensure statistical accuracy), and an explicit Christian mission and/or purpose. The online survey has 50 questions ranked on a scale of 1–5, three open-ended questions, and can have up to five custom questions. —KB
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Small loans create new opportunities in Jordan
Ratiba Abdula’s garden in Wadi Rayan, Jordan, is divided into eight sections to ensure a continuous and year-round crop of thyme. She dries the leaves of this aromatic perennial herb in the sun and sells the dried thyme in the local market, giving her a monthly income of $35 – a new source of income made possible through a $70 loan provided by the Wadi Rayan Women’s Benevolent Society through a fund now supported by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
The success of this revolving loan fund and the demand for larger loans prompted the benevolent society to invite MCC’s support. MCC responded by providing a one-time financial grant of $24,500 in 2008. Twelve loans were approved in 2008 for projects such as irrigation systems, beehives, communications equipment, sewing machines, products for grocery stores, and student loans. Most loans are under $1,500 and recipients pay a service fee of 2 to 3 percent. The maximum repayment period is 20 months.
“Life has been bitter and sweet – mostly bitter,” said Abdula whose family was forced to leave their ancestral village in 1948 in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli war. In 1959, they settled in the Jordan Valley through a United Nations resettlement program. She has been a widow for 12 years. “Now that I have my garden of thyme, life is much sweeter.”
—from report by Gladys Terichow, MCC
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Five Questions
Church name: Prairie Winds Church (PWC)
Pastor(s):
• pastor/elder serving at PWC – Willard Hasmatali
• pastor/elder currently serving in Tanzania – David Hildebrandt
• worship pastor – Myles Shaw
Location: Moose Jaw, Sask.
What is your mission statement?
To know, love, and serve God, and one another.
What makes your church unique?
Plurality of leadership: There is no senior pastor. The moderator provides leadership to the elder board, consisting of elders and pastor/elder, who lead, pray, study Scripture, and make decisions as a unit.
Mentoring: A number of the elders and senior men and women are mentoring the younger adults in the congregation.
What was the defining moment for your congregation?
It occurred in 2004 at an elders meeting. PWC seemed lifeless and we were thinking that the future was very uncertain. As we opened in prayer, the Holy Spirit entered the room and we began to praise God, confess our sins to one another, pray for one another that we might be healed. Each elder had a breakthrough with the Lord that night.
How would you describe your church?
Our congregation desires to meet with God every time we gather. Much time is given to prayer – in our care groups, in designated days of prayer and fasting, prayer vigils, prayer services, pre-service prayer, and prayer retreats. Prayer is a huge part of our service.
We also are trying to understand what it is to be missional in our context. This entire year has been dedicated in preaching on what it is for PWC to love and reach the world.
What does it mean for your church to be evangelical Anabaptist?
We are a congregation comprised of folks from other Christian faith traditions, so we have not yet explored our denominational distinctives. Our focus has been on the question “what does it mean to be fully engaged disciples of Jesus Christ?”
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Ethiopian Mennonite serves at UN
New York, NY
Tigist Tesfaye Gelagle, a 25-year-old Ethiopian Mennonite, has keen interest in people outside her culture and context and in interfaith bridge building. Those interests brought her to the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Liaison Office in New York as a Mennonite World
Conference (MWC) intern.
Prior to becoming an intern, Tigist was a student in Global Studies and International Relations at New Generation University College in Addis Ababa. She has experience as a youth and choir leader and discipleship teacher in her home congregation, Gurd-shola Meserete Kristos, located in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
Coptic Orthodox Christianity has been present in Ethiopia for 2,000 years. Mennonites came there in 1945 and, along with Lutherans and SIM, shaped the modern Protestant churches in Ethiopia.
“Persecution [intense from 1982–1991] brought us together as Christians,” says Tigist. “We learned about adversity, and suffering became the basis for the growth of evangelical churches.” By the time religious freedom was granted by a new government in 1991, Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) had mushroomed from 5,000 to 50,000 members. It is now growing at a rate of approximately 20 percent per year. MKC is the only Mennonite conference in Ethiopia and the largest MWC-related conference in the world.
At the UN Liaison Office, Tigist works with non-governmental organizations, particularly on issues related to African countries, as well as interfaith bridge building. In working with leaders from Iran, including President Ahmadinejad, she came to realize that living in peace as children of God is about living in God’s harmony regardless of race or religion.
“God doesn’t want human beings to be oppressed [yet] many people suffer from corrupt leaders and a global economic system.... We, God’s people, are the voice of the unheard, a bridge between the powerful and the powerless...a tool for God’s work to set people free,” she says.
—Fern Burkhardt, MWC
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Ottawa seminar links faith and advocacy
Ottawa, Ont.
God’s call to turn swords into plowshares means more than talking – it also means taking action, a group of young adults learned during MCC Canada’s bi-annual Ottawa seminar for students in February.
“We often hear that global security comes through military might and that community security comes through getting tough on crime,” said Esther Epp-Tiessen, coordinator of MCC Canada’s peace and justice program. “We wanted seminar participants to understand that God calls us to a security that results when we pursue justice, peace, and the well-being of our neighbours.”
The group consisted of 27 students from colleges and universities in B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as 3 participants from MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP).
The three-day seminar, “Pursuing Security in an Insecure World,” explored the concept of global and local community conflict and oppression from an Anabaptist faith perspective. A special guest was Motsoea Senyane, high commissioner to Canada from the Kingdom of Lesotho, who was an MCC IVEPer in 1989–90.
“I had expected this seminar to be informative and to encourage the activist in me,” said Seulmi Ahn, a student at Carleton University with a long-time involvement with Amnesty International. “What I hadn’t expected was for it to help with my faith. I now have a better understanding of my faith and can integrate my faith with my daily life.”
—MCC Canada
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La Salle (Man.) Community Fellowship moved a church building 100 kilometres from Winkler to La Salle Mar. 16 to serve as their meeting place. The congregation has met at La Salle School for 14 years. The move took 8.5 hours and involved 6 movers, 5 Hydro trucks, and 2 CP Rail employees. The building was placed on the foundation Mar. 20 and services will begin by the end of June. A 10-foot high basement will include Christian Education space, kitchen, and storage. With seating for 200, the building was first constructed in 1982 by the Reinlander Mennonite Church, then belonged to Cornerstone Vineyard. La Salle Community Fellowship purchased it last summer.
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Coming Soon
2009
May 13–15 — Pastors Credentialing Orientation, ETEM, Montreal, Que.
May 15 — Going Barefoot II, church communicators’ conference featuring Mike Tennant, CMU, Winnipeg.
July 13–17 — Attack volleyball camp, Bethany College, Hepburn, Sask.
July 14–19 — Mennonite World Conference, Asunción, Paraguay.
July 20–24 — Above the Rim basketball camp, Bethany College, Hepburn, Sask.
Oct. 15–17 — BFL Study Conference, Forest Grove Community Church, Saskatoon.
Small loans create new opportunities in Jordan
Five Questions
Ethiopian Mennonite serves at UN
Ottawa seminar links faith and advocacy
Manitoba church on the move
Coming Soon
___________________________________________________________________
Employers honoured as Best Christian Workplaces
Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, supervisory effectiveness, and teamwork are some criteria that evaluate a good workplace, whether Christian or secular.
The Best Christian Workplaces Institute works in conjunction with the Canadian Council of Christian Charities, using these criteria and more to help ministries get employee feedback. Each year, Best Christian Workplaces hands out awards for top performers, companies whose work environment innately reduces turnover and increases commitment.
The 2009 awards were the first to be measured against a constant benchmark and 2 Mennonite Brethren organizations, Waterloo (Ont.) MB Church and the Canadian Conference of MB Churches (CCMBC), were among the top seven honoured.
To participate in the survey, an organization must have more than 10 employees (to ensure statistical accuracy), and an explicit Christian mission and/or purpose. The online survey has 50 questions ranked on a scale of 1–5, three open-ended questions, and can have up to five custom questions. —KB
___________________________________________________________________
Small loans create new opportunities in Jordan
Ratiba Abdula’s garden in Wadi Rayan, Jordan, is divided into eight sections to ensure a continuous and year-round crop of thyme. She dries the leaves of this aromatic perennial herb in the sun and sells the dried thyme in the local market, giving her a monthly income of $35 – a new source of income made possible through a $70 loan provided by the Wadi Rayan Women’s Benevolent Society through a fund now supported by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
The success of this revolving loan fund and the demand for larger loans prompted the benevolent society to invite MCC’s support. MCC responded by providing a one-time financial grant of $24,500 in 2008. Twelve loans were approved in 2008 for projects such as irrigation systems, beehives, communications equipment, sewing machines, products for grocery stores, and student loans. Most loans are under $1,500 and recipients pay a service fee of 2 to 3 percent. The maximum repayment period is 20 months.
“Life has been bitter and sweet – mostly bitter,” said Abdula whose family was forced to leave their ancestral village in 1948 in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli war. In 1959, they settled in the Jordan Valley through a United Nations resettlement program. She has been a widow for 12 years. “Now that I have my garden of thyme, life is much sweeter.”
—from report by Gladys Terichow, MCC
___________________________________________________________________
Five Questions
Church name: Prairie Winds Church (PWC)
Pastor(s):
• pastor/elder serving at PWC – Willard Hasmatali
• pastor/elder currently serving in Tanzania – David Hildebrandt
• worship pastor – Myles Shaw
Location: Moose Jaw, Sask.What is your mission statement?
To know, love, and serve God, and one another.
What makes your church unique?
Plurality of leadership: There is no senior pastor. The moderator provides leadership to the elder board, consisting of elders and pastor/elder, who lead, pray, study Scripture, and make decisions as a unit.
Mentoring: A number of the elders and senior men and women are mentoring the younger adults in the congregation.
What was the defining moment for your congregation?
It occurred in 2004 at an elders meeting. PWC seemed lifeless and we were thinking that the future was very uncertain. As we opened in prayer, the Holy Spirit entered the room and we began to praise God, confess our sins to one another, pray for one another that we might be healed. Each elder had a breakthrough with the Lord that night.
How would you describe your church?
Our congregation desires to meet with God every time we gather. Much time is given to prayer – in our care groups, in designated days of prayer and fasting, prayer vigils, prayer services, pre-service prayer, and prayer retreats. Prayer is a huge part of our service.
We also are trying to understand what it is to be missional in our context. This entire year has been dedicated in preaching on what it is for PWC to love and reach the world.
What does it mean for your church to be evangelical Anabaptist?
We are a congregation comprised of folks from other Christian faith traditions, so we have not yet explored our denominational distinctives. Our focus has been on the question “what does it mean to be fully engaged disciples of Jesus Christ?”
___________________________________________________________________
Ethiopian Mennonite serves at UN
New York, NY
Tigist Tesfaye Gelagle, a 25-year-old Ethiopian Mennonite, has keen interest in people outside her culture and context and in interfaith bridge building. Those interests brought her to the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Liaison Office in New York as a Mennonite World Conference (MWC) intern.
Prior to becoming an intern, Tigist was a student in Global Studies and International Relations at New Generation University College in Addis Ababa. She has experience as a youth and choir leader and discipleship teacher in her home congregation, Gurd-shola Meserete Kristos, located in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
Coptic Orthodox Christianity has been present in Ethiopia for 2,000 years. Mennonites came there in 1945 and, along with Lutherans and SIM, shaped the modern Protestant churches in Ethiopia.
“Persecution [intense from 1982–1991] brought us together as Christians,” says Tigist. “We learned about adversity, and suffering became the basis for the growth of evangelical churches.” By the time religious freedom was granted by a new government in 1991, Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) had mushroomed from 5,000 to 50,000 members. It is now growing at a rate of approximately 20 percent per year. MKC is the only Mennonite conference in Ethiopia and the largest MWC-related conference in the world.
At the UN Liaison Office, Tigist works with non-governmental organizations, particularly on issues related to African countries, as well as interfaith bridge building. In working with leaders from Iran, including President Ahmadinejad, she came to realize that living in peace as children of God is about living in God’s harmony regardless of race or religion.
“God doesn’t want human beings to be oppressed [yet] many people suffer from corrupt leaders and a global economic system.... We, God’s people, are the voice of the unheard, a bridge between the powerful and the powerless...a tool for God’s work to set people free,” she says.
—Fern Burkhardt, MWC
___________________________________________________________________
Ottawa seminar links faith and advocacy
Ottawa, Ont.
God’s call to turn swords into plowshares means more than talking – it also means taking action, a group of young adults learned during MCC Canada’s bi-annual Ottawa seminar for students in February.
“We often hear that global security comes through military might and that community security comes through getting tough on crime,” said Esther Epp-Tiessen, coordinator of MCC Canada’s peace and justice program. “We wanted seminar participants to understand that God calls us to a security that results when we pursue justice, peace, and the well-being of our neighbours.”
The group consisted of 27 students from colleges and universities in B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as 3 participants from MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP).
The three-day seminar, “Pursuing Security in an Insecure World,” explored the concept of global and local community conflict and oppression from an Anabaptist faith perspective. A special guest was Motsoea Senyane, high commissioner to Canada from the Kingdom of Lesotho, who was an MCC IVEPer in 1989–90.
“I had expected this seminar to be informative and to encourage the activist in me,” said Seulmi Ahn, a student at Carleton University with a long-time involvement with Amnesty International. “What I hadn’t expected was for it to help with my faith. I now have a better understanding of my faith and can integrate my faith with my daily life.”
—MCC Canada
___________________________________________________________________
La Salle (Man.) Community Fellowship moved a church building 100 kilometres from Winkler to La Salle Mar. 16 to serve as their meeting place. The congregation has met at La Salle School for 14 years. The move took 8.5 hours and involved 6 movers, 5 Hydro trucks, and 2 CP Rail employees. The building was placed on the foundation Mar. 20 and services will begin by the end of June. A 10-foot high basement will include Christian Education space, kitchen, and storage. With seating for 200, the building was first constructed in 1982 by the Reinlander Mennonite Church, then belonged to Cornerstone Vineyard. La Salle Community Fellowship purchased it last summer.
___________________________________________________________________
Coming Soon
2009
May 13–15 — Pastors Credentialing Orientation, ETEM, Montreal, Que.
May 15 — Going Barefoot II, church communicators’ conference featuring Mike Tennant, CMU, Winnipeg.
July 13–17 — Attack volleyball camp, Bethany College, Hepburn, Sask.
July 14–19 — Mennonite World Conference, Asunción, Paraguay.
July 20–24 — Above the Rim basketball camp, Bethany College, Hepburn, Sask.
Oct. 15–17 — BFL Study Conference, Forest Grove Community Church, Saskatoon.
